EDMONTON — Alberta Wildrose Party leader Danielle Smith refused Sunday to condemn a blog post by one of her candidates decrying tolerance toward gay people, but reiterated her party won’t legislate on contentious moral issues.

Edmonton-South-West candidate Allan Hunsperger, a pastor with The House church in nearby Tofield, Alta., wrote on his church’s blog in June 2011 that “accepting people the way they are is cruel and not loving.”

Using the Lady Gaga hit song Born this Way as a starting point, Hunsperger said gay people can choose “to not live the way they were born.”

“You can live the way you were born, and if you die the way you were born, then you will suffer the rest of eternity in the lake of fire, hell, a place of eternal suffering,” he wrote.

In the post, Hunsperger condemns the Edmonton public school board’s policy calling for a safe and welcoming environment for all students, including those who identify as lesbian, gay and transgender.

The founder of Heritage Christian Schools, he identifies public education as “godless,” meaning “profane or wicked.”

‘You can live the way you were born, and if you die the way you were born, then you will suffer the rest of eternity in the lake of fire’

Asked about the writing, Smith noted the party won’t legislate on such social issues but said Hunsperger was free to hold his personal views.

“When a person is making personal statements in their capacity as a pastor, which he was, I don’t think anybody should be surprised that they’re expressing certain viewpoints,” she said outside a Wildrose photo opportunity at the Calgary Hindu Society’s temple.

“It was a year ago when he was talking in his capacity as a pastor. He now understands, we’ve spoken, we’ve communicated on this, that we will not be legislating on contentious social issues. He understands that. He accepts that.”

When asked if there were personal opinions that were beyond the pale for the party, Smith did not directly answer the question.

“Look at our party platform. The things that we focus on are the things on which we agree,” she added.

“We accept that people have a broad diversity of viewpoints but the way we get along is that we focus on the things on which we can agree.”

By mid-afternoon, the blog post had been removed and Hunsperger had written a new blog entry addressing the issue, saying he had been speaking as a pastor about his personal religious viewpoints.

“I fully support equality for all people, and condemn any intolerance based on sexual orientation or any other personal characteristic,” wrote Hunsperger.

Robyn Haugen, Hunsperger’s campaign manager, said he was unable to talk Sunday and said reporters should read his new blog post.

Progressive Conservative leader Alison Redford said Hunsperger’s comments were “shocking” and spoke to the issue of who would make up a Wildrose government.

“If we have people like this making these sorts of comments in Alberta, I think that it’s absolutely wrong. Of course I disagree with it and the fact that these are people who think that that’s a legitimate perspective, just absolutely blows my mind,” she said at an event at Calgary’s Sikh temple.

Liberal leader Raj Sherman said he would not allow a Liberal candidate with those views to run for the party.

“I’m shocked and disappointed that a man of the cloth would make these comments,” Sherman said. “Jesus would not make these comments.”

“I believe Danielle Smith owes Albertans an explanation and her candidate owes Albertans an explanation. Maybe he made these feelings at a time when life wasn’t so good. He should have an opportunity to explain himself. If these are his true feelings and always have been, well I think Albertans have a choice to make on voting day.”